Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1940)

October 5, 1940 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 11 For Better Show Selling Showmanalyses Have Appeared In STR on Following Pictures Anne of Windy Poplars June 22 Bill of Divorcement Tune 1 Rovs From Syracuse July 27 Brigham Young Sept. 14 Ghost Breakers June 8 Great McGinty Aug. 17 He Stayed For Breakfast Aug. 24 Hired Wife Sept. 7 Kit Carson Aug. 31 Mortal Storm June la New Moon June 29 Pride and Prejudice Aug. 3 Return of Frank James Aug. 17 South of Pago Pago July 20 Spring Parade This Issue Strike Up the Band Sept. 21 Three Faces West July 13 Tom Brown's School Days July 6 Turnabout June 1^ Walt Disney Festival Aug. 10 Westerner Sept. 28 When the Daltons Rode Aug. 10 Women in War June 1 MGM Starts Honor Roll Campaign Sheet Metfo-GoLdwyn-Mayer has inaugurated a new exploitation service, called the Honor Roll Campaign, which is in the form of a new cooperative service sheet and will contain complete details of outstanding exhibitor campaigns for MGM releases. Showmen whose campaigns are reproduced in this medium will be awarded Honor Roll Buttons. Exhibitors winning such recognition six times within a six-month period will receive in addition handsome plaques for their accomplishments. Buttons will be gold-plated, with gold lettering on a blue enamel border, and a likeness in relief of Leo the Lion, MGM trade mark, as the center. First recipient of an Honor Roll Button will be Charles Taylor, director of advertising and publicity for Shea's Great Lakes Theatre, Buffalo, for his splendid "Boom Town" campaign, it was announced. All campaigns, to be eligible, must actually have been put over by the exhibitor and his associates, not merely suggested, it was emphasized. The Honor Roll Campaign will complement the company's BiWeekly Cooperative Letters, whose limited space does not permit reproduction of campaigns in their entirety. Names of Honor Roll showmen also will be included in the latter service. Following are the highlights of Taylor's campaign : Enlisted cooperation of Texaco Gasoline outfit, who went to town from every angle and donated use of a display showing the manufacture of oil. Radio contest, with cash prizes for listeners sending in longest lists of words made up from title. "Boom Town." Motorcycle police-escorted parade. Special front for house, with cutouts of the four star heads from 24-sheets placed atop the marquee. Complete newspaper coverage, including art, stories and serial. Restaurant, Postal Telegraph, news company and taxicab tieup with picture copy prominently displayed. Give Election Returns From Stage on Nov. 5 Meet the Competition of Radio By Arranging With Newspaper for All Information About the Balloting FLECTION Day this year will stir a great deal more interest than similar occasions have stirred for many years. Of course, in the first place, it is a Presidential year. After looking at some pro-Roosevelt newspapers and then some pro-Willkie newspapers, one can only judge that the election will be hard fought and closely contested. No matter who wins, precedents will be broken and the populace as a whole will be all keyed up. It is up to you to capitalize on this interest. In the first place, you have a competitor on Election Night, which while always a competitor, is a fierce one on this occasion for the public's patronage — the radio. It is up to you to persuade people that Election Night is better spent at your theatre where at a small cost they will see a fine show and hear the Election returns, rather than sit at home in a small group, missing the enthusiasm of a crowd for the winner and hearing the Election returns through the courtesy of cosmetics, purgatives or headache pills. No matter in what section of the country you are located, you can give vital election returns all through the evening. Of course, the farther West you are located, the greater your advantage in this respect, but even in the Eastern time zone returns begin to come in early. Arrange with your newspaper to furnish you returns and carry on your screen by slides the last minute news as it is fed to you by telephone. If an important announcement comes up, you can even break into the middle of a feature to give the news. In exchange for furnishing you with the returns, the newspaper is entitled to periodic announcements giving it credit. A good stunt would be to arrange with one one of your newsreels to Let you have a few Samuel Exploits Theatre In shop windows, on trucks and automobiles — in fact, wherever it is possible to place them, stickers with the copy, "Let's Go to a MidCounty Movie Tonight" are posted by W. S. Samuel, manager of the Rio Theatre, Nederland, Texas. Promotes Furniture Display The Warner Bros, publicity department in Washington, D. C, utilized the fine Colonial furniture shown in Columbia's "The Hoivards of Virginia" to arrange for two beautiful window displays in the W . & J. Sloane furniture store illustrating furniture popular in the Revolutionary Period. One of the displays is pictured above. The film played the Earle. SWELL FOR LOBBY DISPLAY Smart showmen have the "makin's" for a swell advance lobby display in the recent coverage of Life magazine devoted to "They Knew What They Wanted." Several pages of the September 30 issue carried photographs of Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton, stars of the film, and Director Garson Kanin, look'ng at scenes from the picture at a projection room screening. Blowups of these pages, together with copy that "They Knew What They Wanted" is coming to your theatre should be featured in the lobby by every theatreman who is to play the picture. feet of Roosevelt and a few of Willkie to flash on the screen when the election is conceded. On a white slide, print the word "ELECTED" in large letters to superimpose over the face of the winner. You may find that your current newsreel has enough footage of candidates to pull this stunt If you have no machine for projecting slides, you can have a one-frame trailer made to go ahead of the footage on the candidates. No matter how you get them or how you deliver them, you must announce to everyone the fact that you will give the election returns. This can be done through trailers on the screen a week or ten days in advance, in programs and in the lobby. Newspaper ads should mention that the election returns will be given, and at least in the paper furnishing them you should mention its name in your ad. This might lead to a little free publicity by the newspaper. Use Election Type Posters To get the folks in the proper atmosphere, use red white and blue posters a few weeks before election with a line like, "Vote the people's choice and see ■ at the Strand." An ad looking like a political ad is a good stunt with a box in which you have drawn an "X" next to the title of your picture and the name of the theatre (also between rules) as the simplest example. Political pictures lik^ Paramount's "The Great McGinty" or RKO's 1939 film, "The Great Man Votes" are especially appropriate for Election Day. On Election Day, it is a good stunt to have tack cards placed in as many spots as possible where voters will see them, reading, "Vote for your favorite candidate and then go to the "Strand to see ." Of course, you won't be able to put them near polling places because of the electioneering law. There's a lot to be made out of Election Day and it is easy to do it and retain all your friends and goodwill. The only requirement is that you remain absolutely neutral and not allow your theatre to be used for campaign purposes by either party. If you do allow speeches, both parties must have the same opportunity. Oil Stations Cooperate A local chain of oil stations cooperated in the "Boom Town" campaign put over by Dick Schuette, Maryland, Cumberland, Md., by usinst one-sheets on both sides of their station platform "A" boards.